As annual reports are disclosed, the yearly performance of public fund companies is gradually being revealed. By March 30th, at least 43 fund companies had released their 2025 financial data. Among them, 11 companies, including E Fund, ICBC Credit Suisse Fund, GF Fund, Southern Fund, China Asset Management, Fullgoal Fund, Xingquan Global Fund, Bosera Fund, China Merchants Fund, E Fund, and Huatai Securities Asset Management, reported net profits exceeding 10 billion yuan.
E Fund, one of the leading trillion-dollar public fund houses, continues to rank at the top of the industry in terms of performance, but its stature has diminished compared to previous years. In 2025, the company experienced revenue growth without a corresponding increase in profit. According to the 2025 annual report of Orient Securities, E Fund achieved operating revenue of 56.58 billion yuan, ranking fifth in the industry, representing a year-on-year increase of 17.19%. However, its net profit was 14.21 billion yuan, a decrease of 8.14% compared to the previous year.
In 2021, E Fund's net profit reached 32.63 billion yuan. Since then, it has fluctuated and declined, with figures of 20.94 billion yuan in 2022, 14.15 billion yuan in 2023, 15.47 billion yuan in 2024, and 14.21 billion yuan in 2025. The trend in operating revenue has been similar, with amounts of 93.79 billion yuan in 2021, 67.87 billion yuan in 2022, 53.71 billion yuan in 2023, 48.28 billion yuan in 2024, and 56.58 billion yuan in 2025.
E Fund was historically known for its strength in equity investments, building a reputation as a "stock-picking specialist." However, in recent years, due to declining returns from active equity investments and the diminished performance halo of its star fund managers managing tens of billions, the company's equity business has shifted from being a "stock-picking specialist" to a "passive investment hub."
**Client Servicing Fees Consistently Exceed 30%**
E Fund's revenue primarily comes from management fees and sales service fees. In 2025, management fee income reached 44.82 billion yuan (calculated by merging all share classes), an increase of 4.11 billion yuan from 2024, up 10.1% year-on-year. Sales service fee income was 12.41 billion yuan, an increase of 1.55 billion yuan from 2024, up 14.31% year-on-year, reaching a new high since 2020.
However, revenue growth did not keep pace with the growth in fund assets under management. By the end of 2025, E Fund's public fund management scale was 11.3 trillion yuan, ranking ninth in the industry. This represented an increase of 215.186 billion yuan from the end of 2024, a significant jump of 23.5% year-on-year. Within this, fixed-income fund assets were 7.35662 trillion yuan, and equity fund assets were 3.58986 trillion yuan, accounting for 64.94% and 32% of the total, with year-on-year growth rates of 16.01% and 39.09%, respectively.
The growth rate of fixed-income fund assets roughly aligned with revenue growth, while the year-on-year growth rate for equity funds far exceeded it. Breaking down the equity segment, the core driver of growth came from passive equity products. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the assets under management for active equity funds were 1.68377 trillion yuan, an increase of 26.614 billion yuan from 1.41763 trillion yuan at the end of 2024, up 18.77% year-on-year. Passive equity assets were 1.725 trillion yuan, a substantial increase of 64.324 billion yuan from 1.08176 trillion yuan at the end of 2024, surging 59.46% year-on-year.
Regarding new funds, E Fund launched 54 new funds in 2025, with a total initial offering size of 36.452 billion yuan.
On the expense side, costs primarily include operating expenses, client servicing fees (trailing commissions), custodian fees, transaction commissions, and other expenses. E Fund did not disclose its core operating costs. Client servicing fees are a major expense item. According to Wind data, in 2025, E Fund's client servicing fees reached 1.565 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.13%, accounting for 34.92% of management fee income.
Among leading public fund houses, E Fund's ratio of client servicing fees to management fees has long been above 30% and has shown a continuous upward trend. From 2021 to 2024, the ratios were 32.86%, 32.84%, 33.24%, and 34.29%, respectively. Peer leading firms like E Fund, China Asset Management, and Southern Fund had client servicing fee ratios lower than E Fund's from 2021 to 2025.
For custodian fees, E Fund incurred 906 million yuan in 2025, an increase of 84.762 million yuan from the same period in 2024, up 10.32% year-on-year. Transaction commissions were 391 million yuan, a decrease of 2.72% year-on-year, ranking sixth in the industry. Other expenses were 183 million yuan (including audit fees, legal fees, information disclosure fees, etc.), a significant increase of 101 million yuan from the same period in 2024, surging 123.17% year-on-year.
Notably, E Fund also received regulatory penalties in 2025. The annual report shows that on November 11, 2025, the company was ordered to make corrections by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau due to issues related to compliance and internal controls, investment operations, and other matters (including fund sales). On the same day, three senior executives of the company were issued warning letters by the same bureau for issues related to compliance/internal controls, investment operations, and other matters (fund sales). The company has reportedly passed subsequent regulatory inspections.
**Aggressive Expansion into Index Products**
E Fund's management fee income ranked fifth in the industry in 2025. Why did net profit decline despite significant growth in both assets under management and revenue? The issue likely lies in the structure of the product growth.
It is well-known that active equity funds and hybrid funds typically generate higher revenue efficiency compared to index funds and fixed-income funds. Index funds not only have lower fee rates but also often require higher upfront investment costs.
As indicated by earlier data, after years of decline, E Fund's equity funds bottomed out and rebounded in 2025, with assets growing by over 90 billion yuan, particularly driven by passive equity funds.
However, management fee income from active equity funds did not keep pace with the scale expansion. In 2025, management fee income from this segment was 18.21 billion yuan, an increase of only 930 million yuan from 17.28 billion yuan in 2024, representing a mere 5.38% year-on-year growth.
In recent years, E Fund has vigorously developed index funds. As of March 30, 2026, E Fund's index fund assets reached 138.512 billion yuan, comprising 132 funds (including passive index funds and enhanced index funds).
In 2025, among E Fund's ETFs (including feeder funds) with statable management fee income, there were 100 funds. Their combined management fee income was 340 million yuan, while client servicing fees amounted to 85.1698 million yuan. The comparable figures for 2024 were 179 million yuan and 32.6266 million yuan, representing year-on-year increases of 89.94% and 161.01%, respectively. This indicates that the growth rate of client servicing fees for ETFs far exceeded the growth rate of management fee income.
Specifically, the client servicing fees for both the E Fund CSI Main Consumption ETF and its feeder fund exceeded 10 million yuan in 2025, at 12.8033 million yuan and 10.4086 million yuan, respectively. In 2024, no ETF product had client servicing fees breaking the 10 million yuan mark.
Notably, the client servicing fee for the E Fund CSI Main Consumption ETF Feeder Fund even accounted for a staggering 774.81% of its management fee income. Observations reveal that eight other products, including feeders for the E Fund CSI A500 ETF, E Fund CSI SOE Belt and Road ETF, E Fund CSI Traditional Chinese Medicine ETF, and E Fund CSI State-owned Enterprise Shareholder Return ETF, had client servicing fee ratios exceeding 700% of management fees.
Additionally, 26 other funds, including feeders for the E Fund SSE STAR 50 Constituent ETF, E Fund CSI 800 Free Cash Flow ETF, E Fund CSI 300 ETF, E Fund CSI Dividend ETF, and the E Fund SEEE Carbon Neutrality ETF (which was liquidated on March 14), had client servicing fee ratios ranging from 100% to 700% of management fees.
For these products, management fee income falls far short of covering the client servicing fee expenses, let alone overall costs. Wind data shows that for 35 of E Fund's ETF funds in 2025, the combined management fee income was only 5.3199 million yuan, while client servicing fees amounted to a high 35.7077 million yuan.
Since the beginning of 2025, E Fund has successively established 64 new funds. Among these, 51 were equity funds, with a total initial offering size of 30.055 billion yuan; 7 were bond funds, with a total initial offering size of 12.53 billion yuan.
Of the 51 new equity funds, 41 were index funds, with ETF products frequently launched, covering broad-based indices to sector themes, showing a particular preference for technology-related sectors.
E Fund's new fund applications also lean heavily towards index funds. Since the beginning of 2025, it has applied for 89 funds, 56 of which are index funds. Apart from those already established or approved awaiting launch, 16 are still awaiting regulatory approval.
Although its initial development was relatively slow, E Fund's layout in the index investment space has been ongoing for several years. Among its existing 132 index funds, 100 were established between 2021 and 2026. However, only three have assets exceeding 10 billion yuan: the E Fund China Securities Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Pharma ETF, the E Fund CSI Main Consumption ETF, and the E Fund CSI AAA Sci-Tech Innovation Bond ETF. Conversely, 41 funds have assets below 500 million yuan.
Whether index funds can become the primary source of asset growth and management fee income for the company remains to be seen.
**Star Manager Hu Xinwei's Performance Falters**
The vigorous development of index products is not only an industry trend but also meets an internal development need for E Fund.
In the past, due to excellent stock-picking skills and a keen grasp of market trends, several of E Fund's active equity funds delivered substantial returns for investors, building a "stock-picking specialist" brand.
However, in recent years, the investment capability of its active equity funds has faced increasing scrutiny.
As of March 30th, 36 of E Fund's active equity funds have underperformed their respective benchmarks over the past three years, accounting for 40% of the products with available data. Among these, 23 products lagged their benchmarks by 10 percentage points or more over the three-year period.
Extending the timeframe to five years presents an even bleaker picture. Among 64 active equity funds with trackable five-year returns, 42 underperformed their benchmarks. Twenty of these funds trailed their benchmarks by over 20 percentage points.
Overall, as of March 30th, the average five-year returns for E Fund's equity funds and hybrid funds were 10.29% and 8.54%, respectively, both lagging behind the industry averages for their peer groups.
The performance of Hu Xinwei, once a leading star manager in active equity, has also notably faltered.
E Fund currently employs 99 fund managers. Six active equity managers manage assets exceeding 10 billion yuan each: Hu Xinwei, Ma Xiang, Yang Jin, Zhang Wei, Ma Lei, and Lao Jienan. Among them, Ma Lei has been a public fund manager for less than three years.
Hu Xinwei manages the largest portfolio, with assets of 29.251 billion yuan. However, this represents a decrease of 42.952 billion yuan from the peak of 72.203 billion yuan in the second quarter of 2021. He currently manages 8 funds: 6 active equity funds and 2 hybrid funds with a bond bias.
Hu Xinwei joined E Fund in 2011 as an industry analyst and began his career as a public fund manager in April 2016, accumulating nearly a decade of experience. He gained fame as the "Consumption Guru" for his successful bets on consumer blue-chips like baijiu and home appliances. However, his performance declined significantly with shifts in market style and sector rotation.
Hu Xinwei's fund manager index shows poor medium-to-short-term performance. As of March 30th, the index's returns for the past year and three years were 8.31% and -19.05%, respectively, lagging their benchmarks by 6.42 and 30.28 percentage points.
Specifically, among the 6 active equity funds managed by Hu Xinwei as of March 30th, only the E Fund Value Leadership fund outperformed its benchmark over the past three years. The other five funds lagged their benchmarks by over 10 percentage points.
Four funds managed by Hu Xinwei, namely E Fund Value Creation, E Fund Mid-Cap Value Select A, E Fund Consumption Upgrade A, and E Fund Consumption Industry, also underperformed their benchmarks over a five-year period.
Looking at top holdings, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the top ten holdings across Hu Xinwei's managed funds included Midea Group, Tencent Holdings, Kweichow Moutai, Haier Smart Home, Haid Group, Gree Electric Appliances, Fuyao Glass, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, Wanhua Chemical, and CFMOTO. These span sectors like home appliances, automobiles, agriculture, basic chemicals, food & beverage, and media.
From October 1, 2025, to March 30, 2026, the share prices of Midea Group, Tencent Holdings, Haier Smart Home, Haid Group, Gree Electric Appliances, Fuyao Glass, and CFMOTO fell by 0.15%, 27.36%, 13.9%, 20.57%, 2.83%, 21.07%, and 16.12%, respectively.
Significant overlap in holdings is also evident. As of the end of 2025, E Fund Value Creation and E Fund Value Leadership shared 7 identical top ten holdings. E Fund Consumption Upgrade and E Fund Consumption Select Two-Year Hold shared 6 overlapping top ten holdings.
Beyond Hu Xinwei, other star fund managers nurtured by E Fund, such as Yang Jin and Lao Jienan, also face challenges with underperformance in some of their products.
Yang Jin manages 6 products with total assets of 19.547 billion yuan as of the end of 2025, five of which are active equity funds. As of March 30th, three funds managed by Yang Jin—E Fund Quality Growth A, E Fund Digital Life Six-Month Hold, and E Fund Digital Future A—have all delivered returns since inception that lag their respective benchmarks. Both E Fund Quality Growth A and E Fund Digital Life Six-Month Hold have negative returns since inception.
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